TIP CONFERENCE ENERGIZES, EDUCATES ON FAITH-BASED

UNCLAS VATICAN 002518

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR EUR/WE (Levin); G/TIP; ECA (A/S Harrison)
WHITEHOUSE FOR JIM TOWEY

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM SMIG SOCI VT
SUBJECT: TIP CONFERENCE ENERGIZES, EDUCATES ON FAITH-BASED
COMMUNITIES, MEDIA, AND THE DEMAND FACTOR

REF: A) Vatican 0733; B) State 59846

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SUMMARY
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1.(U) Embassy Vatican organized and hosted a
conference on Human Trafficking June 17 that brought
together three key elements in the fight against
trafficking in human beings (TIP): faith-based communities
as first responders for victims; the demand factor as a
causal element in TIP; and the media's role in
consciousness raising. The "Call to Action" attracted
nearly 200 participants, including senior Vatican and
Italian government officials (including a former Italian
Prime Minister),diplomats accredited to the Holy See,
members of religious orders, and the media. Attendees
heard U.S., Vatican and Italian speakers make innovative
and forceful arguments to educate and energize those
already committed to anti-trafficking initiatives, and to
stimulate the uninitiated to action. Delegates viewed the
department-recommended film "Lilya 4-Ever," as well as
extracts from U.S. and European television network
programming on the issue of trafficking. Post appreciates
ECA's support for this conference, which garnered extensive
media coverage helping to enhance awareness and promote
action against human trafficking. End summary.

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Taking Action Against Trafficking
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2.(U) On June 17, Embassy organized the second of four
2004 conferences marking twenty years of full diplomatic
relations between the U.S. and the Holy See. Held at the
prestigious Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University, "A
Call to Action: Joining the Fight Against Trafficking in
Persons" focused on ways in which religious communities,
the media, and governments could take action to prevent and
respond to trafficking in persons (TIP). The conference
drew a robust and enthusiastic crowd of nearly 200 senior
Vatican and Italian government officials, diplomats
accredited to the Holy See, and members of religious orders
from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Coming on the
heels of the release of the Department's 2004 TIP Report,
the conference served to multiply the public outreach of
this report and the Secretary's presentation two days
earlier. The Ambassador highlighted the Report and the
Department's priorities in his introductory comments, which
emphasized the international dimensions of the problem and
the need for active engagement from the Holy See and its
worldwide religious communities.

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Holy See Highlights Role of Faith-Based Communities
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3.(U) In his keynote address, Holy See Deputy FM Pietro
Parolin called for a multifaceted approach to trafficking,
which he described as a grave violation of human rights and
a threat to human dignity. Parolin identified poverty,
discrimination and underdevelopment as root causes of the
phenomenon. He praised international conventions and
initiatives, but said that alone they were insufficient to
tackle the problem, which he asserted would require
cultural initiatives to affect attitudinal change in
society. Parolin pointed out that faith-based communities
were often in the front line of anti-trafficking work,
describing them as "first responders." Parolin urged
greater collaboration with faith-based organizations,
presenting Post's current project to train women religious
in anti-TIP work (ref a) as an example of a highly
successful approach. He concluded with a call to the media
to promote positive behaviors and offer a message that
enhanced human dignity.

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Faith-based Communities on Front Line
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4.(U) Following Parolin's call for further collaboration
between faith-based communities and governments, German
Ambassador to the Holy See Gerhard Westdickenberg moderated
a session focused on the role of religious organizations in


the TIP fight. Italian nun Eugenia Bonetti (a G/TIP 2004
anti-trafficking hero) and the International Organization
for Migration's (IOM) Stefano Volpicelli gave a detailed
presentation of a training program for nuns involved in
anti-trafficking work (ref a). They made it clear that
religious workers were logical participants in this work
because of their vocational choice in favor of the weakest
and most marginalized members of society. Moreover, their
ability to engender trust among victims facilitated their
engagement. Sister Bonetti gave examples of how victims
viewed nuns as unbiased and independent agents, untainted
by the prejudices and stereotyping that often surrounds law
enforcement and other government officials.

5.(U) Mary Ellen Dougherty of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops office for Migration and Refugee Services
observed that the rationale behind Catholic social policy
paralleled goals of secular agencies and governments,
making partnership logical and effective. Dougherty
extolled the strength of faith-based initiatives to combat
trafficking, noting that they were able to draw on
extensive networks already in place. Faith-based
communities' access to a broad range of interested groups,
organizations and individuals and their genuine "staying
power" - their ability to remain committed and effective
even continuous funding streams -- gave them unique
strengths to wage a consistent battle against trafficking,
she emphasized. According to Dougherty, the Catholic
Church and other religious organizations had three
e
distinctive roles to play in the fight against trafficking:
education (with the hierarchy or other religious leaders
providing credibility and weight to anti-trafficking work);
services to victims; and coalition building. In a day in
which participants heard many troubling stories, Dougherty
also emphasized the positive, pointing out the significant
increase in the number of people at all levels dedicated to
the fight against trafficking.

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Confronting the Demand Side of TIP
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6.(U) Ambassador Desire Koumba of Gabon moderated the
second session on the demand side of trafficking, noting
the particular interest that he and his government took in
TIP. Donna Hughes, Professor of Women's Studies at the
University of Rhode Island and author of a Department-
sponsored TIP study, joined Dorchen Leidholdt, Executive
Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, to
present their hypothesis that demand, including legal
prostitution, generated and exacerbated trafficking in
women for sexual exploitation. Both speakers urged the
adoption of legal sanctions against "exploiters" of women
and cited the example of Sweden, which had effectively
targeted the demand factor to fight prostitution and,
consequently, trafficking, reducing the flow of trafficking
into the country significantly.


7. (U) According to Leidholdt's powerful presentation,
prostitution and sex trafficking are two sides of the same
human rights catastrophe, whether one approaches the issue
locally or globally. Both, she said, were part of a system
of gender-based domination that made violence against women
and girls profitable. Both preyed on women and girls made
vulnerable by poverty, discrimination, and violence,
leaving them traumatized, sick, and impoverished. Both,
she continued, rewarded predators sexually and financially,
strengthening both the demand and criminal operations that
ensured the supply of victims. Leidholdt said the
concerted effort by some NGOs and governments to
disassociate prostitution from TIP, treating the two
phenomena as distinct and unrelated, was a deliberate
political strategy aimed at legitimizing the sex industry
and protecting its growth and profitability. This, she
insisted, would inevitably lead to more trafficking victims
as demand outstripped the supply of local women already
"working" in the industry.

8.(U) Hughes agreed that the demand for prostitution
accounted for the profitability of sex trafficking. She
argued that the link between prostitution and sex
trafficking was indisputable and would not be altered if
prostitution were legalized. She bolstered Leidholdt's


case by citing examples from Europe and Oceania in which
demand for prostitution -- and subsequently sex trafficking
to meet this demand -- increased after the
decriminalization of prostitution. In response to theories
that decriminalization of prostitution would help women by
bringing them out of a shadowy world into the "care" of
protective legislation, Hughes contended that such
legalization in fact prompted very few women to sign up for
benefits or unions. Women and children in this "industry,"
she said, were inevitably controlled by mafias and
criminals, and could not register with an authority or join
a union. With most women forced into this "work" due to
debt, unemployment, or poverty, they have entered a
coercive and abusive world completely incompatible with the
fantasy of some benevolent unionization of prostitutes.
The world of prostitution, Hughes concluded, was instead
much more compatible with the tactics and realities of
trafficking and sexual slavery.

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Media: Voice of the Voiceless
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9.(U) Following the presentation of recently-broadcast
excerpts on TIP from three television programs (NBC NEWS
Dateline, CNN Presents, and CBS NEWS/Miami),Italian
Ambassador Giuseppe Balboni Acqua took the floor and
introduced CBS Chief Investigative Reporter Michele Gillen
and National Public Radio's Senior European Correspondent
Sylvia Poggioli. Gillen and Poggioli offered first-hand
experiences of ways in which the media was currently
addressing TIP, and insights into how the media could be
further developed as a strategic weapon in this fight.
Both stressed the need to present programming that avoided
salaciousness, and noted the importance of utilizing
reporting techniques that ensured victims featured in such
programming were not victimized in a different way a second
time by sharing their stories.


10. (U) Gillen and Poggioli said that media in source
countries were often afraid to report on trafficking
because of threats from organized crime or corrupt
authorities profiting from it. Western media (most often
in destination countries) thus had an obligation, they
said, to increase the exposure of TIP stories. One
attendee suggested that more programming be developed by
the West for source countries that could warn potential
victims by showing the reality of the "jobs" that awaited
unsuspecting women and others. This could help counteract
the "brainwashing" of advertisements, programming and news
stories that depicted a West in which it was easy to find
fortune. Poggioli said that one victim had cited to her an
Italian advertisement that showed a cat eating from an
expensive silver bowl. With that type of presentation
broadcast to Albania and elsewhere in Europe, potential
victims had come to believe that an easy life awaited them
in the West.

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Film Hits Hard
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11.(U) Some 50 conference delegates used a "brown-bag"
lunch break to view the G/TIP-recommended feature film
"Lilya 4-Ever." The hard-hitting film had particular
impact on the members of women's religious orders who were
the majority of viewers. While time constraints prevented
a formal session to analyze the movie, informal discussion
between the shell-shocked viewers coming out of the film
and other participants ensured that "Lilya 4-Ever" would
get further attention.

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Extensive Media Coverage
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12.(U) Media coverage of the conference included print
reports in U.S.-based Catholic and non-Catholic media,
radio interviews with U.S. and Italian speakers, and
television programming on Vatican-related and U.S.
television networks. The media session found particular
resonance with representatives from this sector, many of
whom indicated in the discussion session that they were
thinking of ways to expand their reporting on TIP and anti-


TIP efforts. All speakers' presentations during the
conference will be made available on the Embassy Vatican
website and in EUR/WE.

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Comment: Momentum will Increase "Multiplier Effect"
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13.(U) Since Embassy Vatican's first conference on
trafficking in May 2002, the issue has become a much higher
priority for the Holy See and its related agencies. The
participation of Deputy Foreign Minister Parolin, the
presence of Cardinal Martino who heads the Vatican Council
of Justice and Peace, and enthusiastic interest of senior
representatives from a number of women's religious orders
augurs well for future collaboration between faith-based
communities, the U.S. Government and the Vatican. We were
told during the conference that there are a million nuns
around the world, all committed to the world's weakest and
marginalized; in short, a powerful resource for the
partnership between governments and faith-based communities
to combat trafficking.


14. (U) We look to use the substantial momentum from this
well-attended conference to continue expanding the Holy
See's involvement in anti-TIP work at various levels. With
the Vatican diplomatic corps becoming more engaged, and the
vast network of Catholic religious orders, Bishops
Conferences and Papal Nuncios becoming more aware of the
problem, the "multiplier effect" of the Embassy's
engagement has been substantial. Already we have received
many positive responses and inquiries from Papal Nuncios
(Holy See ambassadors) and Embassies worldwide to the
initiatives noted in ref (b). Post thanks ECA its support
for this conference and G/TIP for its considerable help in
all of these endeavors. End comment.

Nicholson


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2004VATICA02518 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED